SMETHPORT — Bradford business owner Edward E. Wright pleaded guilty to allegations that he had indecent contact with a 15-year-old girl at his shop.
Wright, 69, entered his plea to charges of corruption of minors, a third-degree felony; indecent assault without consent and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, both second-degree misdemeanors.
He entered the plea Thursday in McKean County Court before President Judge John Pavlock.
According to District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer, between Nov. 1-Dec. 31 in 2018, Wright had indecent contact with the 15-year-old on four occasions. Wright was 66-67 years old at the time.
Wright’s actions were a “course of conduct of a sexual nature corrupting or tending to corrupt the morals of a victim,” Shaffer noted.
Court records filed at the time of his arrest indicated the allegations happened at Wright’s Music Shed in Bradford.
Wright will have to register as a sex offender due to the conviction.
He will be sentenced April 15, and he will have to undergo a sexually violent predator evaluation before that day.
This was not the first time Wright was accused of indecent contact toward teenage girls.
In 1986, Wright pleaded guilty to charges stemming from allegations that between 1981-86 he sexually assaulted several female members of the Bradford Area High School Marching Owls. He was the school’s band director at the time.
He was sentenced to a term of probation for the 1986 conviction.
In 1986, Wright opened Wright’s Music Shed and was offering music lessons at locations in both Bradford and Warren. The store’s Facebook page indicates the Warren store closed in February, around the time the charges were filed.
